6 words: Linguistic proficiency

“Well conservant conversant with the English language.”

One NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month) prompt was to write a poem that contained at least five words in another language. I wrote this one, about linguistic blunders in a cross-cultural world. Been there, done that?

Day 1 in the U.S. of A

How do you take your coffee?
she asked, and I said
In a cup, s’il vous plaît,
a big one,
I’m so jet-legged.
Later we found out
that we both knew Pierre,
and I said Oh mon Dieu
and she said OMG
and Get outta here,
so I left.